Highland House West Apartments

Likes:
First off, I should note we’ve been here for two years, with no plans to leave any time soon.
The apartment itself is your standard DC apartment — except our kitchen is huge (I love it) and our bathroom is kind of small. A decent amount of closet storage, and enough room to not feel like two people are always on top of each other in a one bedroom apartment. Our floor is a mix of families with kids, young couples/​grad students, and older residents. Everyone’s friendly and quiet.
The front desk staff is wonderful, especially Fidel, who greets you with a «Happy Monday!» (etc.) when you walk in, and who somehow magically knows what apartment you live in so he can give you your packages on your way in. The maintenance staff is really responsive and does a good job.
Also, in two years here, I’ve seen one ant. That’s it. I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of any other pest/​rodent.
Neutrals:
Parking’s extra; utilities are included for now but I think they’re changing that soon. I’m confused on whether pets are allowed — I’ve heard no, but have definitely seen some dogs (which don’t seem to be service dogs) in the elevator.
The gym is a bit small, but I’ve never had a problem getting the machine I want. I go early in the morning and there are, at most, 4 other people there (usually it’s 2 – 3, and at least once a week I’m the only one there). My SO goes around 6 pm and never has any problems getting a machine either. The incline on one of the treadmills often breaks and the tvs on the machines don’t always work, but they get fixed eventually.
Dislikes:
The elevators can be slow, especially on the way to work in the morning, on the way home at night, and on Saturdays when one elevator is often being used by someone moving in/​out (leaving just 2 elevators for everyone else in the building).
Washers/​dryers down the hall, instead of in the units. It gets very annoying walking back and forth every 25 – 40 minutes to change loads. And the price per load ($ 1.75, I think?) is a little steep. Still, though, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve tried to do laundry but found the machines all taken. So at least there’s that.
All in all:
Super-​happy here. I am okay with trading in-​unit washer/​dryers and annoying elevator waits for reasonable rent, a nice amount of space, and really responsive maintenance.

I’ve rented for 18 months and it is an well managed apartment complex. Apartment sizes are generous. Mixed demographics which is nice — young, old, single, families. Things get fixed quickly and efficiently. The place is kept very clean and the grounds are well maintained. It is an older building, with the W/​D located in a common area. That has never been a problem for me. Gym is tiny but useable. Would highly recommend it.

My wife and I lived here for two years and had a generally positive time in our 1000 sq ft 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment.
PROs:
–front desk staff, especially Fidel, are incredible and super friendly. Went way above and beyond for us be it mail, packages, friendly hellos, and general friendship
–huge bedroom with walk in closet
–nice carpeting all over the apartment
–semi-​modern appliances with gas range
–nice pool deck on the rooftop
–small but decent gym
–very quiet, mostly older people living here
–big sound deadening between rooms. You can hold a 50 person rave and not get a noise complaint
–unlimited guest parking for $ 5 – 6 dollars no limit. Seriously, you could park your car in here for a month for $ 6. All you need is a token from the front desk that you must pay for in cash. And given the dumpy street parking in the area, you have to use this feature if friends come over.
–walking distance to Whole Foods (MD grocery stores can’t sell alcohol so you will be SOL on that front)
–walking distance to MD state run liquor store that is actually very cheap
–walking distance to CVS hidden inside the mall
–walking distance to Friendship Heights metro
–walking distance to AMC movie theater and Friendship Heights mall
–rolling-​out-​of-​bed distance to Mei Wah Chinese restaurant which is really adept at making sushi believe it or not!
CONs:
–rolling-​out-​of-​bed distance to Panera and Chipotle to eat 10x the calories than required
–you can smoke in your apartment if you wish and other people can smell the smoke lingering from previous tenants. I could have sworn an upstairs neighbor was smoking but he/​she wasn’t. It was leftover from a previous tenant
–if there is any maintenance during the day and you work at home, the sound is incredible. Rooms being worked on two floors above and not even directly above or below your unit will sound like someone has a jackhammer in your bathroom.
–bathroom was stupidly small for such a massive sq foot layout. Absolutely way too big of a master bedroom left minimal, rodent like space for a shower/​bath with one sink. It also left minimal space for a kitchen
–kitchen was very cramped with a wall between the kitchen and dining room area that shouldn’t exist. Not an open kitchen– more like a glorified side closet
–no pets allowed period. If you have extensive paperwork and a doctor’s note, you can have a service animal. However, i saw at least two older ladies that had chihuahuas, which simply cannot be service dogs. My guess is that they bend the rules for the diplomats that live here.
–no washer/​dryer in unit, play passive aggressive with floor mates
–washer/​dryer were $ 1 more per load than across the street at my old apartment at The Willoughby. The Willoughby is a total dump, but the laundry was at least cheaper plus the Willoughby has a little store inside that you can buy wine/​beer/​tampons/​snacks/​last-​minute-​emergency-​items
–recycle bins for the whole floor are the size for one person to use meaning a single bin each day is filled to the absolute maximum and spills over onto the floor in the trash chute area. Many times I would take out the recycling and not be able to because of the overflow. Residents also made it very clear that they could not read recycling instructions as evidenced by recycling the tin foil a pumpkin pie came in, but also including the rotting pumpkin pie with the tin foil.
–gym was small with a handful of working weight machines but only two ellipticals that were always in use at peak hours causing us to workout at bizarre times like 11pm
–no grill on the rooftop is an MD anachronism from a time when flaming hamburgers lit entire cities on fire. DC apartment complexes will allow grills on the roof.
–parking! It is a private underground multi level garage, but there are so many load bearing columns inside that driving anything else than a Smart car is like an expert level driving course. No assigned parking spots unless you pay extra was very annoying causing a daily game of musical chairs with your much too big car in a rodent size maze.
–last, and it is more of a state of Maryland problem: if you are doing a month to month lease, Highland House requires a full two months notice. That means if it is February 15, and you decide to leave the apartment and have a month to month lease that you pay extra for for the flexibility, then you cannot move out until April 1^st at the earliest! Holy ###. This was exceedingly terrible for both of us.
tl;dr Fidel is amazing at the front desk. Underground garage requires a very small car or prepare for scrapes. No pets. Idiotic use of too much space equates to having too little space.